The deaths of various aerial and related phenomena researchers, writers, and fans (Frank Scully, June 24, 1964; Frank Edwards, near the coming midnight of the 24th, still on June 23, 1967; Arthur Bryant, June 24, 1967; Richard Church June 24, 1967; Willy Ley, June 24, 1969; Jackie Gleason, June 24, 1987).

June 24, 2006 saw the death of renegade publisher Lyle Stuart who published anomalist writer Frank Edwards’ Fortean book, in 1959, Stranger than Science, a paperbook full of information on cryptozoology as well as ufology.

Two Inuits kill a huge, yellow-furred bear at Rendezvous Lake, Barren Ground, Canada, June 24, 1864. The bear was similar to Arctodus simus, which died out in the Pleistocene. Naturalist Robert MacFarlane acquired the bear’s skin and skull, and shipped the remains to the Smithsonian Institution, where they were placed in storage and soon forgotten. Eventually, Dr. Clinton Hart Merriam uncovered the remains, and in 1918, he described the specimen as a new species and genus, calling it the “patriarchal bear,” with the scientific name Vetularctos inopinatus. Today, it is often recognized as a new species, Ursus inopinatus. (Thanks to Matt Bille and Mnynames.)

June 24 was the grand opening date of Bates College Museum of Art’s “Cryptozoology: Out of Time Place Scale” exhibition (2006).

St. John’s Day (”Jaanipäev”) is a major traditional holiday in Estonia, celebrated by singing around bonfires, in Estonian communities in the United States and Canada as well as in Estonia itself. The glow-worm, because it usually starts appearing around St. John’s Day, is called “Jaaniuss”–”St. John’s Worm”–in Estonian. (Thanks to T. Peter Park, who is Estonian.)

About Loren ColemanLoren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.

If I remember correctly, Merriam used Vetularctos inopinatus (Ancient, or patriarchal, unexpected bear) describing a new genus, in 1918. This rested solely on the skin and skull of the 1864 specimen, although a couple of other reports of odd bears that might have been of this type eventually surfaced.

Merriam later “demoted” the animal to a new species in the genus Ursus, Ursus inopinatus (which later authorities usally either did not list or marked as “disputed” or some such qualifier). I don’t have my file on that handy.

When I talked to the MonsterQuest guys earlier this month, they had requested to have the remains of this 600-lb yellowish critter taken out of storage at the Smithsonian so they could pay for DNA testing. I do not know how this effort came out: when I was interviewed for the upcoming Mystery Bear program, they wanted me to set the background without knowing of any new findings they might have made.

Matt, thanks for the further info. I’ve long had a bit of a fascination with bears in general. A few years back there was a bit of a to do about ‘giant’ bears in Sibera, I think. Was there ever any determination of what they actually are?

Ceroill,
There are a couple of giant bear mysteries from the Siberia region. One is reports of odd-looking white bears of polar bear size, and one Russian zoologist made so bold as to suggest it was a surviving giant short-faced bear. The other concerned a giant black form of the Kamchatakan brown bear. No good resolution on either one of these.

Matt, thanks. It was the latter that I was thinking of. For that matter, has it been decided that the Kamchatkan brown bear is a species unto itself? I seem to recall there being claims it was just a regular brown bear or perhaps a grizzly of unusual size.

Sten Bergman, the zoologist who wrote in 1936 about seeing the Kamchata giant bear’s pelt around 1920, suggested it might merit its own classifcation, but he did not offer a suggested name. No one ever pursued that. It was lumped with the Kamchatkan brown bear, called U. a. piscator.

(Many references, including my first crypto book, reflect the misunderstanding that piscator was a new name proposed by Bergman. It’s still on Wikipedia that way.)

Bergman thought the animal distinct based on the combination of sheer size, a solid black coat (though that is not unheard of in brown bears), and the animal’s uniformly short fur (which characteristic is really odd for a brown bear).

Secondhand reports from the 1980s are the last thing we have on this animal. If it was a distinct race, it may be extinct. Alternatively, it may be an occasional oddity, as with the king cheetah.

(One note on an oft-asked question – Bergman is not the same man who authored Bergmann’s Rule about the size of animals in high latitudes.)

TaishaMcGee — “The very existence of flamethrowers proves that some time, somewhere, someone said to themselves, ‘You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I’m just not close enough to get the job done…’” ~ George Carlin